SHOOT ‘EM UP IN AMERICA

SHOOT ‘EM UP IN AMERICA

FRAZER CHRONICLE

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

I think that I am weird, I think about all of the carnage in the world, and I look for ways to stem the tide, and make things better for everybody. And without exception, when I get into one of these moods, I end up with more queries then answers. The reason… I still have faith in humanity, even though I’m usually disappointed with the final outcome. People it seems tend to think short term, and many of the world’s problems need long term answers.

 

My latest soap-box issue is gunshot deaths in the United States, and how completely asinine the problem is here in the United States. Baltimore, Maryland is number 40 in the world with regards to gunshot deaths with an average of 33.92 deaths per 100,000 citizens. New Orleans is number 28 as 39.61 people out of a 100,000 die by gun. Detroit comes in at number 22 with 44.87 deaths per 100,000, followed by St. Louis, Missouri with an astounding 49.93 deaths in 100,000 citizens.

 

South American countries dominate cities with the most gunshot deaths, and without exception crime, low household income and the rate of people living below a countries published poverty line are huge contributing factors. Many of the cities and countries on the list that I used for this blog were in a civil disorder…but I can tell you this, Baltimore, Maryland, New Orleans, Louisiana, Detroit, Michigan and St. Louis, Missouri are “not” in any sort of civil disobedience, yet each made the list of the top deadliest cities in the world.

 

So what’s the problem here in the United States, or as some call “Camelot,” maybe it’s the water. I read an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about homicides in the first six months, and how they had doubled from last year’s count…going from 37 in 2014 to 74.

 

Lost in all of the bloodshed is the impact that a shooting death has on the decedent’s family, the void most probably, is almost unbearable. Not ever having been around the gunshot death of a family member, I have no clue, as does the average person on the street.

 

SEVERAL ISSUES INVOLVED HERE

The political community comes out of the woodwork in full force, as does the authority figures, each wanting answers, and offering solutions to the human carnage. Almost without exception their words have a hollow ring to them, and the problem solving suggestions are little more than window dressing.

 

There is talk about the families of the victims, of how a community is being robbed of the possible potential of a gunshot death. How the level of violence is “totally unacceptable,” how many political and city leaders are angered by the deaths.

 

What these authority figures initiate is little more than feel-good initiatives, with absolutely little chance of doing anything about the core problems. The overall problems can be directly traced to color, employment, education, and neighborhood of a victim’s residence.

 

Let’s face the hard cold facts of a victim’s race, education, and station in life…come on now, most victims are black…and most of the shooters are black, at least here in the United States. What is so hard for people of political clout, or position of authority have with admitting the obvious?

 

I’M A WHITE GUY AND IT STILL EMBARRASSES ME

I don’t have a brother, so I don’t understand how black people figure that some black guy on the street is their brother, even when they are only related by color. But let me jog a person’s thinking a bit, if I considered all white men my brother, if the average shooting in Baltimore or Detroit was committed by a white guy, it would embarrass me to know that my brother was shooting another white brother.

 

I suppose that some will view the above paragraph as the rants of a racist…and I don’t care, my point is simple, if more brothers found that blacks shooting blacks was not only embarrassing, but completely unacceptable, maybe then things would start a slow change.

 

To allow the numbers of people that are being shot to death to continue is what I call “enabling and it’s got to stop. Nobody can depend on a community’s political leaders, or civic leaders, or the authority figures.

 

Like always…meaningful change has to come from local citizen effort, it’s always been that way and probably always will be…and for good reason. When there is civil unrest, and people finally come to a decision that something is completely unacceptable…that thing is eradicated, it’s how a society works, at least in the United States.

 

It is time for the average citizen to get involved before some loon-owl orders military response to the stupidity and carnage that is going on in the streets and neighborhoods of America. Education, employment opportunities, and a resurrection of “my brothers keeping” is now in order before its too late for all of us.

Have a nice day!